ARE YOU A TEAM PLAYER?

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Coming together is a beginning; staying together is progress; working together is success.
- Anonymous

If I were to ask you what you thought a team was, I wonder what you would say? Would you say a group of people who play a sport together, people who have similar interests? Just what would you describe a team as?

Accroding to THE NEW MERRIAM-WEBSTER DICTIONAY, Team is described as: noun - a number of persons associated in work or activity.

We work in Teams in many areas and aspects of life: family, sports, medical teams, your workplace, school classrooms etc. So a team is a group of individulas who are associated through a particualr activity or interest. But what are the various parts of a team? Who is the leader? Who does the behind the scenes work? I had never even given this any thought until I read Dr. Phil's book THE ULTIMATE WEIGHT SOLUTION. This was the book that really changed my perception of not only weight loss but healthy living.

Dr. Phil talks about gaining a support system to help as you work through your weight loss challenge. Likely one of the biggest hurdles, I myself have is finding people who will commit to being on my Team and actually being there to do the job. There are various roles and some of them are a given while some I found surprising.

Your Support Team
The Coach - Obviously the Coach is someone with knowledge of what is happening, is well trained, can provide knowldge on nutrition and fitness, etc. For me, my Coach is my Family Doctor. Who else knows my body better than me than my family doctor. He is positive, encouraging, helps me stay positive when I don't seem to see any results, reminds me that I am giving my best despite my medical conditions and that it may take the long road to lose the weight because of my health conditions and medications, both of which cause weight gain. The fact I've gone from 311 pounds to 284 pounds while on prednisone off and on for bronchitis and while having other issues rise up, is a big success for me. So my Coach is there for me and has never lete me down, always offering me insight and is always uplifting and encouraging.

The Teammate
This is where I have most of my trouble. Anybody I have asked to partner up with me in my weight loss program starts out by saying yes, but then ends out backing right out of it at the last minute. Many have said they want to but when the time comes, they back away. So it would be wonderful to have somebody nearby that I could go for a walk with or just call on the phone to say, "Hey, how was your workout today?" and get the same back from them. So far, not having a teammate is one of the biggest downfalls and discouragements I face.

The Cheerleader is just that. Picture a football team and who are the loudest people to cheer? The cheerleaders!!! Having been a cheerleader, I know how the enthusiasm is contagious. Us girls cheered until we had no voices left. This person has what Dr. Phil calls an "affirming presence" in your life and in a caring a responsible way. In other words, they are not going to cheer if they see you eating a dozen doughnuts. Cheerleaders make you think that your goals are worthwhile and worth striving for.

The Umpire
I'm sure we have all watched Baseball and seen the Umpire shout STRIKE 2!!!!!! The umpire is one who gives feedback on what you are doing. Just like in the Baseball game, they let the players know if it was a Strike, out of bounds, etc. The Umpire has to be a good listener and and observer...just like in baseball. They have to watch that foul line and they have to listen for things. So in the healthy weight loss situation, the Umpire for ways to help you find ways to succeed and helps you to help yourself find the answers. They listen and help you come up with your own answers.

Many times people will fit into one or more categories of the above, and if that is the case, as Dr. Phil says, you are blessed. My Coach will always be my family dcotor. However, he is also a Cheerleader, encouraging me on. I'm not sure I have an Umpire yet and I knowk for sure I don't have any Teammates yet. Finding people who are willing to do the work is the hardlest part. However, if it comes right down to it, I can be my own Teammate by making visuals that will remind me.

Vision Boards, Collages, Sticky Notes...etc. There are variouis ways to remind yourself to do the things you need to do and to avoid the things you should avoid. I especially like vision boards. They are positive, can be small or large and if you use the Dollar store to buy your background can be incredibly inexpensive.

What I am getting at here is it takes more than you to get you healthy. You need qualified experts who know more about your body than you do - family doctors, personal trainers, nutrition specialists, etc. If you have special medical conditions, you definitely need to have them involved so they can monitor and manage your condition with care. You need people to cheer you on when you don't feel like doing anything. You need the person who is going to give you the feedback you need who is going to keep you in the foul lines and not outside of them. And you need teammates. This is the biggest challenge people face. Not many people are willing to change their life because they have gotten comfortable where they are, despite the size of their body, their health risks and issues, and despite what their medical team is saying.

So I'm into having a Team to beat the weight, become more healthy and do what I need to do to make my goals a reality. Are you? If so, I wonder if we live in the same Canadian Province and can make contact :)